Means adviseable to give you any Satisfaction on that Head, least it should be, in Times to come, made use of as a Precedent; being dangerous in its Consequences, because you, or future Assemblies, might in any other Case, demand whether the Council advised so, or so, or not,. and if refused to be answered, afford a Pretence of Difference.

Tho' your House might make that Demand with such an Intent as well as with other Views; yet I, who by their pass'd Conduct well knew they were capable of making any thing a pretence, and would do so, to avoid what was required of them, did (as much as I could to prevent their doing so) permit the Secretary to shew to the Speaker and some of the Members what Advice was given me on that Head: He accordingly informed the Speaker of this, who, with three other Members, came to the House of Mrs. Loveland and there the Secretary laid the Council Book open before them, and pointed to the side where the Advice was written: One of them seemed to read it cursorily over, and all of them might have read it if they would. But one of them ask'd the Secretary, whether the Governor had ordered him to shew it them, that they might enter it on their Journal? or Words to that Effect. The Secretary reply'd, that he had no Orders to that purpose; but was permitted by the Governor to shew it them, that they might (as the Secretary supposed) be satisfied that he had called them to Trenton by Advice of Council, and upon their declining to look into the Book more than had been done, he took up the Book and left them.

Tho' most believed they well knew they were called to Trenton by Advice of Council, yet this shews, that they not only did not want any Information of this Kind, but that they refused to receive it when they might have it; and that all the Clamours they make on this Head, are groundless and unreasonable, as well as

untrue Pretences, to avoid supporting the Government, or providing in any Case for its Defence; they being determined, as appears by their Messages, not to consent to a larger Application of the publick Money to the Support of the Government than what they there mention; which they know will neither Answer the End of supporting the Government, nor can be accepted as sufficient for that purpose; and by this Method entertain the vain Hopes of compelling the Governor and Council to assent to their Bill as they have drawn it, of making Forty Thousand Pounds current in Bills of Credit; and this they may do on any other Occasion, as well after such a Bill passes as before, whenever the Council or my self refuse to comply with Demands or Proposals either of us think unreasonable or detrimental to the Publick. Of this Nature is every Thing else they have said, mere Pretences, and very weak ones, to avoid doing what was recommended to them, unless they have Forty Thousand Pounds in Bills of Credit.

These Men (tho' they cannot bear to be told of the evident Miscarriages of former Assemblies) have unreasonably clamour'd in several successive sittings, because the Justices of Hunterdon were not prosecuted, when they well know I never hindred them from being so. I took much Pains in a very weak Condition (as I am at present) to set that Matter in as clear a Light as I then could do, and the Law was open to any Body that thought themselves agrieved to prosecute them if they thought fit, and it is still: But why they should be displaced upon the Suggestion of a few Petitioners, till they were convicted of having done something to deserve it, or prosecuted at the Charge of the Government, or at my own private Expence, especially since there is not any Support of the Government, nor is not, nor never was since my Administration, any Fund appropriated for to defray

the Charge of that or any other Incident, your House has never yet shewn me, nor I believe never can? But if your House, who have taken upon themselves to determine, that these Justices have subverted the Law, or any of your Members, are inclined to prosecute them in a Court of Law, they are at Liberty to do so; for there only it can be legally determin'd, whether they have subverted the Law or not. This you have been told more than once, but resolve to make use of any Pretence, however groundless, to continue your Clamours.

The Laws are sufficient to punish Rioters, or other offenders: But neither the present Militia Act, nor any that you have attempted to make, are sufficient to quell a Riot of this Kind, or perhaps an Insurrection, for which force may be necessary; which cannot be continued without some Provision to support them; nor can the Officers and Courts necessary to convict them, attend that Service, without Sallaries, or some Provision, to defray the Charge of Prosecution, which are not provided, nor, as appears, intended to be provided for by your House.

The Petitions for a separate Governor are known, as are the Reasons for making them; which were, that the Governor generally resided at New-York, and often preferred the Interest of that Province to the prejudice of this; that his Absence occasioned almost an intire neglect of the Affairs of this Government, and great Delays in the Administration of Justice, both in Causes depending before him in Chancery, and before him and the Council on Writs of Error: And whoever reads these Petitions, will (from your Message) conclude,,that your House never did. Do you groan under these Grievances now? or did you at any time since my Administration? Have I been out of the Government at any time since I came into it, unless a small Time at first to provide for the Removal

of Wife and Family into this Province? Has there been any unreasonable or great Delays in Causes depending before me in Chancery, or before the Council and my self on Writs of Error? Say if you can; for these were the Matters complained of. What Act of Government has been refused to be done, for the Relief of the People? You ought at least to have mention'd one among this heavy Load of Grievances that you groan under: But all this Noise of Grievances, this refusal of Acts of Government for the relief of the People, upon Examination, will amount to no more. than the Council's denying their Assent to your Bill to make Forty Thousand Pounds, and this only is evidently meant by what they say.

Tho' you never had, or never should have, any thing to do with the Indians out of your own Limits, or the People of Albany, yet (as an Indian War is not unlikely) Care should be taken to provide for the Subsistence of a Force to protect our back Settlements, in case it should happen: But it seems nothing is to be done, tho' absolutely necessary without Forty Thousand Pounds in Bills of Credit being made Current.

You excuse the not giving Aid of Men to Louisburg, because the Province is drain'd of People by Privateering: Few went a Privateering from this Province, and notwithstanding the pretended Diminution by Privateering, or the real Number of three full Companies of 100 men each that went to Carthegena, the Province is so far from being drain'd of People, as you pretend, that by the Accounts now brought me in of their Numbers, there are above Sixteen Thousand souls more than there was in the Year 1737-8 or 1738, when they were last numbered; so that what your House take upon themselves to assert, appears a poor Excuse, without the Foundation of Truth to support it. LEWIS MORRIS.

Then Mr. Secretary read a Prorogation under the

Great-Seal of this Colony, whereby the General Assembly stands Prorogued to Tuesday the Nineteenth Day of November next, then to meet at Trenton.

A Brief Vindication of the Purchasers against the Proprietors, in a Christian manner.

[From Papers of Ferd. J. Paris in the New Jersey Historical Society Library, Book

P, No. 3.]

A BRIEF VINDICATION of | THE PURCHASagainst the Proprietors in a

[iii]

SORS

CHRISTIAN MANNER. |

The Preface to the Reader;

I Have presented a Letter to thy Views, hoping that thou wilt seriously consider the Reason for so doing; as every private Man has a Talent committed to his Charge, at least one, and he will certainly and undoubt edly be called to give an Account, how and in what Manner he has traded with the same, whether he has improved it to his Master's Advantange, or his own; And likewise I tell thee Reader, That I have no Hatred against any Persons whatsoever, for I could heartily desire that all Men might be saved; yet this is what I have to say, that I have more Charity for some, than I have for some Others; Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ had three Favourites, [iv] Peter, James and John, and of these Three John was the Darling. He was the Disciple whom Jesus loved, with a peculiar Love, and was admitted to lie in his Bosom; for in my Letter, it may seem to some Persons, that I have spoke more in Favour of one Party, than I did in the other; but I would have thee to consider, if I should vindicate any Manner of Persons in willful Sins I should become